Averting Confrontation In The Baltics

July 28, 1994

The oppressive Russian occupation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania may finally end on a relatively cordial note.

The bitter disputes remaining between Moscow and the states it occupied by force starting in 1940 have yielded compromises that may not entirely satisfy any of the parties, but they do give everyone something. They will also lead to the outcome long desired by the Baltic nations: the complete and final departure of Russian soldiers from their soil.

The Russians had already agreed to withdraw from Lithuania and Latvia by the end of August, but Moscow was angry at a draft law in the Latvian parliament that would have tightly limited the number of resident Russians allowed to gain citizenship. Latvia resents the Russian residents as a legacy of Stalin's effort to eradicate its national identity and fears they might push for reabsorption into Russia.

In the case of Estonia, which was similarly inhospitable, President Boris Yeltsin had threatened to stop the troop withdrawal unless the 10,000 retired Soviet military officers who have settled there were assured better treatment-a threat that undoubtedly was meant to get the full attention of the other two Baltic nations as well.

President Clinton, on his recent visit to Riga, asked Moscow to proceed in leaving the Baltics and urged greater tolerance of ethnic Russians living there. The administration had also informed Yeltsin that any delay would complicate relations with Washington-including a possible cutoff of aid.

Apparently, neither the Baltic countries nor Russia were eager to see how far this disagreement could be pushed. The Baltics didn't want to antagonize their giant neighbor, and the Russians didn't want to alienate the world.

In a surprise breakthrough Tuesday, Estonian and Russian negotiators announced an agreement in which all Russian retirees are allowed to apply for citizenship, but Estonia retains the right to expel any whose conduct it regards as harmful. Moscow says it will remove its 2,000 remaining troops by Aug. 31.

Meanwhile, the Latvian parliament voted last Friday to eliminate the quota allowing only 2,000 resident aliens a year to become citizens-which would have left most of the 900,000 ethnic Russians out in the cold. With minimal requirements, almost all will have access to citizenship beginning in the year 2001. Those who were active Communists and those who worked with the KGB, however, will be barred.

These changes should do much to defuse the dangerous tensions between Russia and its Baltic neighbors. All of them will benefit if this new spirit of compromise can endure.